


Breathe

by katydid001



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Twins, Ficlet, Kidnapping, Multi, Near Death, No Uchiha Massacre, Original Character(s), POV Original Character, Rescue Missions, Sick Character, cystic fibrosis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:20:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28377600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katydid001/pseuds/katydid001
Summary: Chizu Uchiha, Itachi's twin sister, inherited the destructive lung disease that would kill her brother in another life. When Itachi discovers that she has been kidnapped, no stone is left unturned, and no wayward informant is left whole. But will he make it in time?
Relationships: Uchiha Shisui/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

The water was warm and peaceful as it surrounded my entire being. The whoosh of the passing waves serenaded and lulled me to sleep. For the first time in seventeen years, I could breathe easily. In and out. In… and out. I could almost picture the warm shores beckoning me just beyond the water’s horizon. My hair fanned out from my body weightlessly as I drifted along with the current.  _ If only nii-chan could also be in this place… _

_ ‘Nii-chan? Who’s that?’ _ My mind dulled as it emptied further. Comfortable darkness enclosed me and echoed with the slowing of my heartbeat.  _ ‘Who… am I?’  _

* * *

“Taichou! I found a survivor!” bellowed the masked ANBU. “Oh, gods… it’s Uchiha Chizu…” The ANBU swiftly busted through the holding cell and carefully began to pick the locks that pinned a frail young woman. He pressed the tips of his fingers against her weakening pulse. Her chest barely moved as the thick mucus had almost completely closed off her lungs, drowning her on dry land. 

The leader of the ANBU team raced into the room and slapped a seal on her chest. When it activated, her nose and mouth began to glow blue as oxygen was swiftly diverted from the room and forced into her lungs. 

* * *

The water swirled violently as I was pulled back from the comfortable darkness. The tunnel of light reappeared as I was dragged through it. My lungs filled with fluid and my body was made of lead. I couldn’t stop coughing. I couldn’t breathe… I couldn’t breathe!

“Shh, imouto. Give it a moment. If the gods intended you to be a fish they would have given you gills…” a distorted voice echoed in my head. A soft gloved hand brushed against my forehead.  _ An old joke...he’s always thought he was so funny.  _

* * *

A medic appeared on the scene and tied a tourniquet to the limp upper arm. She shook her head before releasing it and trying the other. 

“Taichou… I won’t be able to get a line in here. We’re far too late. With her pre-existing condition… it’s a miracle that she’s even able to draw breath at the moment. The best I can do is give her morphine to ease her passing.”

“Your best is not good enough,” he replied tersely. 

“Sir, you don’t understand! She won’t even survive the journey back to Konoha! She needs a strong dose of antibiotics, diuretics, her liver and heart are completely shot. If she were to stand any chance she would need far more than an emergency oxygen seal! She needs a full sextet seal that can only be done at the hospital. It’s far kinder to let her pass comfortably here than in pain on the road!” When the medic looked up, she was alone. The other two members of her team had already left towards Konoha. 

* * *

“Team 4. This is team 2. Come in. Over.”

“Team 2. This is team 4. Over,” Crackled a familiar voice.

“Baby crane is alive. Repeat. Baby crane is alive. Over.”

“...she… survived?” For the first time in his life, the baffled ANBU on the other end broke protocol. 

“Hai. Will arrive at your location in 5. Over.”

“Copy.”

The wind swept through the treetops as ANBU team 4 anxiously waited for team two to arrive. The captain of team four roughly ran his fingers through his curly hair and placed his hands behind his head. She had told him it was his tell. It had been over three days since Uchiha Chizu had been kidnapped. Nobody, including him, thought that she would be found alive. For one, she had to take medication every four hours just to keep her disease at bay. Her lungs relied on twice-daily breathing treatments to free themselves from the encroaching fluid. To have been kidnapped...possibly tortured? Even with a brother such as hers who never gave up searching, the odds were certainly against her. An unscrupulous statistician had been overheard in the halls of ANBU. The civilian Uchiha’s chances of survival had been less than one percent. 

The tip-off had been from rogue-nin looking for easy cash. All it had taken was less than ten seconds in a room with one of the most feared ninja for him to deliver the details he had. Overall, this had been the hunt of a desperate and crazed man. But no one ever thought that  _ he _ behaved normally. Especially when his siblings' lives were on the line.

* * *

“I’m going to find, tou-chan! And you can’t stop me!” The door slammed shut behind me. 

A warm October wind caressed my face as I left home in search of my father. I hadn’t made it more than two blocks when my lungs seized on me. I dropped to my six-year-old knees and panted, desperately trying to fill them with oxygen. There was the patter of quickening footsteps as I felt myself scooped up into a pair of familiar arms. The smell of soft cedar embers came through as an oxygen seal was activated. The comfort of my father’s chakra soothed and surrounded my nose and mouth as I breathed in greedy gulps. I didn’t know it then, but ever since I was two weeks old, the entire Konoha Military Police was required to carry the seals in their first aid kits. Father would take no chances. 

“If the gods had intended you to be a fish, they would have given you gills,” he joked. My lips turned up in a weak smile as I snuggled into his side. “Where are your brothers, Zu-zu?”

I pointed towards our estate. 

“And how did you end up out here by yourself?”

“Itachi cheated during our game. He says he didn’t, but he did! He used chakra! It’s against the rules.” An indignant huff escaped before I could stop it. A coughing attack swiftly followed before my father’s chakra increased its pressure on my face. 

* * *

Itachi increased the amount of chakra going towards the oxygen seal as the corner oximeter fell. 81% oxygen...unacceptable. If he forced anymore into the seal, he risked burning it up. Her only hope was in Konoha. His hand was bloodless as his grip tightened on the wool blanket. It felt as though she were burning-- her feverish body no longer had the strength to convulse. Sweat dripped down his chest as he pulled her in closer. 

The medics had released new oxygen seals that contained a vital monitoring section. Currently, it was a distraction. He had no need to know that her temperature was 105.2 degrees Fahrenheit (40.7 degrees Celsius), that her blood oxygen was hovering between 79 and 81% and closely towards permanent vital organ damage. He didn’t want to know that her pulse was thready and 181 beats per minute. She looked like a corpse in his arms. Her cheeks were sunken, dark circles bruised her eyes. Whenever he made the slightest adjustment, her head lolled listlessly. 

* * *

The tunnel reappeared. It was bright and warm. I could hear my grandmother’s voice from the other side. The faint clicking of her knitting needles called to me. 

“Chizu… Chizu… it’s time to come home, little bird. Come home…”

* * *

AN: Thank you so much for reading! This concept kind of came to me while I was sleeping off Christmas leftovers. I hope you all enjoyed it! I plan to add more to this mini-series. Happy New Year! Comments are lovely and appreciated! 🥰🥰🦗🦗

(Yes, I will try to work on the other stories… I’ve just had a bad run of mental health since October. They won’t be left unfinished, I promise.)

  
  



	2. Part 2

“Nii-san, why do the flowers die?” A breeze sailed through the sea of summer grass and created shimmering ripples as the stalks bent along with its sway. It rustled and carried their minds away from village politics as the twins lay on the warm ground.

“Why do you ask?” Itachi was cautious. 

It hadn’t been long since Chizu found out she would never make it past the age of twenty-four. They weren’t supposed to have heard that conversation between their parents and the physicians, but they were curious children. It was nothing that the prodigious genin couldn’t handle, even with a civilian by his side. Breaking into the medical records room of the hospital was child's play. Hiding what the seven-year-olds knew from their parents was the difficult part. Hiding from their jinchuuriki of a godmother was even harder. For more than two years, they used every cent of their pocket money to buy ramen to ensure Kushina’s silence and cooperation. Or so they thought.

“The flowers are only here for a short time. You would think they would last as long as the trees, but they don’t. They grow for two months, bloom for two weeks and then wither away until the next year. Sometimes, they don’t come back at all unless someone intervenes and plants them.” 

The young genin was silent for a time before taking hold of his sister’s hand. “If they were around all the time, we wouldn’t appreciate the beauty that they bring.” 

* * *

Shisui blurred through the trees the moment he registered Itachi’s chakra. 

“Take her to Konoha. Keep the seal active.” Itachi said tersely. He shoved Chizu into his friend’s arms and watched as they seemed to vanish out of sight. His legs collapsed underneath him the moment that his feet hit the deck of the ANBU hideout. His heart felt like it was being ripped out of his chest and his lungs were filled with cement. “Please live…” his desperate plea carried with the wind out of earshot of his subordinates. 

_“...why do the flowers die?”_ the wind seemed to answer. 

* * *

“Okay, Chizu, you just hang on tight. We’ll get to Konoha in no time.” Shisui moved with the wind. It would take less than five minutes to reach the hospital. Itachi would have taken seven. Even then, he wasn’t sure that he’d make it in time. 

* * *

I fell flat on my rear as a gust of wind assaulted me. Someone picked me up and began brushing the dust off of my clothes before I registered who it was. It was my brother’s best friend. Of course, it was… Uchiha Shisui. Child of a permanently disabled second war veteran and an outsider, veteran of the third war himself and child prodigy. His current age is twelve… something else? Ah. Known for his speed and genjutsu. ‘Shisui the teleporter’. 

“Shisui-san, what can I do for you?” 

He ran his hand through his hair nervously. “Ah well, I was wondering, Chizu-chan-san-uh-hime… if you could help me pick out a present for Itachi’s birthday? Although… I guess it would be your birthday too.” Shisui chuckled nervously. I nodded and we began to walk together. 

“Chizu is fine. Itachi’s very easy to shop for. He likes dango, plushies and scrolls. But he normally just gives the plushies to Sasuke. You know, Shisui-san, you don’t have to be a stranger around me. I don’t bite.”

His step faltered slightly. “Okay, Chizu. Call me Shisui, then.”

“Done. This is the shop.” It was a lower-end mochi shop in between the red light district and the hokage tower. Shisui raised an eyebrow at the peeling paint and dilapidated tables. “Seriously. He likes their mochi best. They’re refugees from the Land of Rain. They import all of their vanilla and rice flour from family members that still live there. We came here a lot when we were younger… before he joined… well, you know. He’s just so tired all the time.” The boy beside me nodded solemnly. He knew all too well the pressures of ANBU. 

“Anyway. He likes their dango best. And they’re cheap so you can get a ton of them. As for scrolls, there’s a bunch of old scrolls at Neko-obaa’s place. She has the best stuff. Not that I’ve ever been, of course.” I gave him a wink, hoping he’d understand and let that tidbit slide. He rolled his eyes slightly. 

* * *

My grandmother’s voice, once so clear, receded as I chased it through my mind. A grand hall opened before me, filled with mirrors reflecting each precious memory. I ran and stopped before one, darker than the others. Reds and oranges overwhelmed it as potent chakra leaked around the edges. As I touched the glass, I watched the scene unfold. A small girl with long ebony hair walked merrily alongside my father. Her skirt swayed slightly along the tops of knobbly knees. It took several moments before I recognized the girl as myself. We were walking along the winding alleys and roads of Konoha. The door to the mochi shop opened as they went inside. 

I remembered this day… I willed them to stay inside the shop. To hide, run, anything from what happened next. The glass door opened and a piercing scream filled the air as the kyuubi appeared in the street. 

The kyuubi easily smashed a building to the ground as though it were no more than a toy. The debris landed around us. When I looked back at my father, something curious happened. As suddenly as I was walking alongside him, I was now in his protective hold. As I watched the scene unfold from the outside, all I saw on his face was fear. I didn’t know this man. But the fear wasn’t for himself, it was a father’s fear for his child. He looked at the small girl and then at the creature towering over us as face changed and hardened with resolve. A golden glowing form engulfed us. The smell of burning cedars tickled the back of my nose as the chakra construct consumed us. My father’s eye began to bleed as I hugged his neck tightly. 

“This is the susanoo. I pray that this will be the only time you will ever witness one, musume,” He whispered and stroked my hair. 

“Tou-chan… I’m scared…” 

“It’s okay to be afraid. It’s not okay to cower on the sidelines because of that fear. We will end this madness shortly. Sleep.” I remember nothing more. 

* * *

**_Beep. Beep. Beep…_ **

“You’re home now, Zu-zu. You’re home…” a voice drifted through my mind as I tried to hold to every syllable. 

**_Beep. Beep. Beep…_ **

* * *

* * *

**_AN: Thank you so much for reading! If you have time, please leave a comment. :)_ **


End file.
